Brazil: Presidential hopeful drops ‘mistaken’ same-sex marriage pledge
A Presidential hopeful in Brazil has dropped a pledge to defend same-sex marriage, and claims it was included in her manifesto by mistake.
56-year-old Socialist Party candidate Marina Silva, who is running to oust President Dilma Rousseff, is tipped to take the victory in October’s Presidential elections.
Brazil’s Supreme Court controversially ruled in favour of same-sex marriage last year, but the change has faced strong opposition from evangelical lawmakers, and attempts to codify the change into law have stalled in Congress.
According to AFP, Ms Silva has this week altered her manifesto to drop a pledge to “back proposals defending civil marriage” for same-sex couples.
The new version changes the word “marriage” to “unions”, and now pledges to “defend rights relating to civil unions between same-sex couples”.
She told reporters: “The text [initially] published was not the text which had been discussed.”
She added: “We are committed to the defence of the lay state, defence of personal freedom and the respect of religious freedom.
“The lay state is there to defend the interests of all, the interests of those who believe or do not, independent of their social standing or sexual orientation.”
The candidate has been attacked by some rights groups for the change, accusing her of pandering to the religious lobby.
Ms Silva was initially the vice-presidential running mate of Presidential hopeful Eduardo Campos, but took up the mantle after he died in a plane crash last month.
